The Brothers Bloom, Last House on the Left, and Friday the 13th.

I watched the Brothers Bloom tonight. I have been wanting to see this movie ever since it came into theaters. I liked it. It was pretty original (from my knowledge), but at times it was predictable. I didn't really see the end coming. Although the entire movie was basically con after con, it probably should have been obvious. I enjoyed it enough. Probably wait till it goes on sale to buy it though. I did like the Belgian. He was probably my favorite part. Bang Bang is another one of my favorite characters. She's the one that likes to blow things up. All the characters are decent enough. It never really explains what's going on with Diamond Dog though.

Basically it's a story about a young man who can't really do much of anything unless his brother writes it out for him. In the end he realizes he can live a life without it being written and drives off into the sunset with the girl for an almost happy ending. The other brother's ending: not so happy. I guess it's symbol isms at it's best. But I don't really understand the Queen of hearts deal, unless it's some off the wall reference to Wonderland. There are a few other literary references within the movie, most are explained. The older brother apparently likes to fashion his cons after great literary works. It's not a must see movie, but it's good for a laugh or two. Like I said it was good enough, but it could have been better.

Last House on the Left. To begin with, I've never seen the original. Older Horror movies don't interest me that much, and for that matter, nether do new ones. They don't frighten me or anything like that. I'm just not into the horror genre. I think I used to be, but I can't really think of any horror movies in particular that I love that aren't science fiction or thriller before they are horror movies.

Anyways, I liked it. It's pretty deranged. The methods the parents use are pretty brutal and the rape scene was unnecessarily long. I didn't care for the microwave or the garbage disposal method of taking out the trash, but hey, their movie, not mine. If you don't know the plot, here it goes:

Set up scenes. Girl goes with parents to lake house for summer. Meets old girlfriend. Girlfriend takes some guy up on offer of Pot ( ah the horror movie no-no: Don't smoke up or you die). Pot-Boy's evil friends come home. Take girl+friend as hostage. Girl+friend try to escape. Friend dies. Girl continues to attempt escape, almost dies. Evil People go to LAST HOUSE ON LEFT. Boy discovers who parents are. Girl finds way home. Parents take revenge. Evil people die. Everyone is happy (except friend, Paige, because she's still dead....and the Cops)

There you have it. Wow. You don't even have to watch the movie now, unless you want to see lots of blood. And someone getting the Peep treatment. The mom and the dad are awfully calm about killing everyone, I believe they are some kind of tag team murder force and the daughters in on it too. Welcome to the family Justin.

Friday the 13th. I'm not sure how many I've ever seen out of the original series. I think maybe 2. I saw Jason X, and Freddy vs. Jason, I'm not entirely sure if I've seen the original Friday the 13th or not. But, after so many years, I'm still not interested. It's even got Aaron Yoo in it, who I love. And I just can't keep watching. It's actually playing right now. I just can't get into the series. Like I said before I'm not a big horror fan. It's got some scary and/or tense moments. But it's just like a gore-fest. I had a friend tell me it was awesome, so I thought I would give it a try, but I just can't force myself to like something.

If you want a typical horror movie slasher, here's you're guy. Lots of blood, weed, and of course sex. Cause the two main foreboding aspects of all horror movies are: If you do drugs or have sex, you will die. The end. If Scream taught me anything, it was that I love Matthew Lillard and Jamie Kennedy, and of course, the rules of horror movies.

Thinking on it for a bit longer, I've discovered I do own at least one horror movie, which is Halloween. I loved Halloween. Even the remake was good. I'm not sure what it is about that movie, but it's a classic, even if it is a Horror movie.

I really just want to beg Hollywood to quit remaking Horror movies, or for that fact quit remaking movies. There are a few remakes I've enjoyed. But there are far more that need to be burned with the rest of the film.

Catching up on the Motion Pictures. I love you Man. Adventure Land.

After a long week at work, I've decided it's movie catching up time. So I rented a few tonight. And it begins....

I love you, Man. A Bro-mance by any other name, would probably be called something along the same lines. It was an okay movie. I didn't laugh hysterically. It was funny, it just wasn't as funny as some of the other movies I've seen. I love Jason Segal, but he was much funnier in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. As for Paul Rudd, his character was a bit toned down from the other movies I've seen him in. I really liked Role Models ,Knocked Up, and Anchorman. Back to I love you Man. It was basically about a guy that's the girlfriend type. You know the ones, they have more girls that are friends than guys. But he sets out to finds friends basically because everyone is giving him shit about it, including his gay brother played by Andy Samberg of The Lonely Island. He was the best part of the movie. And I enjoyed JK Simmons (Juno, Burn After Reading) as well.

Like every other romantic comedy movie, the plot goes something like this. Boy is sad because he has no friends. Boy finds friends through series of humorous adventures. Boy becomes close to friend, until an event comes between them. (This could be anything, in this movie it's money). Boy has angry moment with friend and they are not friends anymore. Boy's life is a bit sadder due to no friend. In the end Boy forgives friend, all is well! This is the classic romantic comedy plot. It's rather boring. Thus the reason, I'm not all to impressed with the movie. It gets really old after you've seen a thousand movies with the exact same plot with sligtly different jokes and small changes made in what sets events about. In other Rom-Coms, you would just replace boy with girl and friend with boy. It's a vicious cycle and it needs to end.

I'm not big on romantic comedy's for just that reason. I thought Funny People did well with not having Adam Sandler ending up with Leslie Mann's characters. About the only ones I can really stand to watch it Because I Said So and Failure to Launch (I love Justin Bartha and Zooey Deschanel, I hate SJP, not a MM fan either).

Next up: Adventureland. Now before I even watch the movie, I'm going to say I picked this up because it looked funny and has Jesse Eisenberg who will be in Zombieland in it. I've not really seen him in much. He was in The Village, but not a major role from what I can remember. Kristen Stewart (of Twilight fame) is also in the movie, but I'm less concerned with her. So here it goes. And we press the X button on the ps3 controller because I killed my DVD player when it dared to betray me and stopped working.

And....the end credits rolls. I now have the song Pale Blue Eyes by Velvet Underground stuck in my head. As well as the White Lines Zombie version from Shaun of the Dead. Or Freeze!

Back to ze movie. Before the Germans get here. I liked it. Between Eisenberg and Cera, I choose Eisenberg. Although Cera has points for playing Scott Pilgrim. Adventureland was pretty good. It was a cute movie. I love when he gets held at knifepoint over a giant panda. It was basically about a group of twenty-somethings and what they did with their summer. Which was work at Adventureland. And Drink. And Smoke Pot. And Be unruly. Oh. And there was a Disco Club (?) involved. I was kinda confused as to when the events in the movie were supposed to take place. Perhaps they gave a time placement at the beginning of the movie and I missed it. Either way, I despise side ponytails and jean jackets. Despite it having the above mention romantic comedy plot seeping through the drug usage and carny rides, it was a nice way to spend a few hours. I would put this in a category with Waiting. A Work related Comedy more than a romantic comedy really. Also I was impressed with Kristen Stewart. I think she did a pretty decent job in this movie. So did Jesse Eisenberg.

The part I laughed the hardest at, is when he returns home high to eat dinner with his family and his mom is telling him about other grad schools and things he could consider. They start talking about internships on Mister Rogers (I believe Mister Rogers is one of the reason our generations is so messed up) and they talk about the characters are hands puppets. Then his dad does this hand puppet impression and Brennon's like "That's a horrible impression." I thought that was hilarious for some reason.

It's kinda like Employee of the Month(in the way it's work related), which only had two funny moments. One at a party or something with the guy in the coke bottle glasses and the other is when the guy falls on the checkout register. The rest of the movie was shit.

I may purchase Advetureland, when it goes on sale. While enjoyable, I suggest renting it before buying it. So I've created a new category for movies: Work Comedies. Maybe this exists already. Probably. There's nothing better than making fun of something that you hate. And there's nothing most people hate more than their jobs.

I was hoping to catch a few movies in the theater this week, but I don't think I am going to be able to. On the list right now: Whiteout, 9, and Gamer. And I'm probably going to head back to blockbuster tonight and grab a few more movies. It's been a while since I rented anything, so I'm fairly behind. But you gotta do what you gotta do. And some days, playing with my cats is more important than watching a movie. Besides, the cats actually do funny things once in a while.

Zombies And Cigarettes

Everyone knows I love Zombies. Here's a short foreign film I found on io9. It's subtitled. I still enjoyed it. Only about 13:50, after that it's the credits. Also included is the Red Band Trailer for Zombieland.

Zombies and Cigarettes

Zombieland

Inglourious Basterds

If you don't know who Quentin Tarantino is, I'm sorry. And slightly disappointed. By far Tarantino is one of my favorite directors. His movies include Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, From Dusk till Dawn, Kill Bill Volume 1, Kill Bill Volume 2, Deathproof, and a few other assorted bits. An now included in the list is Inglourious Basterds. If you haven't seen a preview, a poster, or at least heard of this movie, obviously you have no tv, no Internet, and don't get out much. If you get the chance, go see it, actually make sure you go see, cancel dinner with grandma if you have too. It may be my favorite Tarantino movie. Close to being my favorite Brad Pitt movie. And no doubt is it my favorite Eli Roth movie. Roth plays my favorite character in the movie, Sgt. Donny Donowitz.

It starts out with a plain intro for credits. Just the credits. Nothing else. The music is a huge part of the movie. The names are great. The characters are extraordinary. It's long, but I can't think of a part I would cut to make it shorter. It runs at 2 hours and 32 mins. The end is the best ending I've watched this summer. The very last scene is the perfect last scene. The entire movie is poetic justice at it's finest.

All in all the movie is entertaining. It's funny. It's full of action. Full of drama. It's got a touch of romance, in a way. It's got history. It's even got Samuel L. Jackson. A good chunk of the movie is subtitled. So if you don't like subtitles, sit through it anyhow. There's so much to this movie that just plays out perfectly at the end. There is a calmness to it, and like most Tarantino films, there is also the sudden punch of action. Visually, it's exceptional. The scenery is stunning. The dialogue in the movie is excellent and contributes just as much as the action does. If you get confused about anything, it usually clears it up within the scene. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering, what will happen next. How is this going to end? The tension is almost unbearable in some scenes. Keeping the length and the shear amount of content that has been crammed into the film in mind, Tarantino delivers a wonderfully written script. For being so long, it doesn't instill a sense of boredom in you. And for such a mass amount of events going on, it doesn't leave you thinking "What's the heck is happening?"

I can't really tell you everything about the movie. That would be unfair to you. It would be like telling you who Tyler Durden is in Fight Club or what's so great about Bruce Willis in the Sixth Sense (if you hadn't already seen those movies). If you haven't seen those movies, Tyler Durden is the narrator and Bruce Willis is dead. It's you own fault.

I couldn't believe how genius the movie was. It's the best movie of the summer. The Hangover was excellent, but this, this is just magical. It if doesn't inspire any feelings in you, I would seriously consider having your pulse or heart rate checked. If you don't laugh, you must be a humourless person with no resemblance of a soul. If you don't enjoy the movie at all, I dare say you would be a zombie, but even zombies would enjoy some parts of the movie.

If you haven't seen it yet, get to it. It's worth whatever you'll pay.

"You see, we're in the business of killin' Nazis, and boy, business is boomin'" - Lt. Aldo Raine

Top 30 Movies.

in no order.
1. Fight Club
2. Jaws
3. Goodfellas
4. Jurassic Park Triology
5. The Dark Knight
6. Aliens
7. Snatch
8. Shaun of the Dead
9. Hot Fuzz
10. Kill Bill
11. Star Wars
12. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
13. The Godfather
14. Resident Evil
15. The Day After Tomorrow
16. V for Vendetta
17. Watchmen
18. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
19. Inglorious Basterds
20. Tropic Thunder
21. Because I Said So
22. Iron Man
23. Fan Boys
24. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
25. Pride and Prejudice
26. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
27. Batman Begins
28. The Count of Monte Cristo
29. 300
30. The Hangover

If you don't know what you want, you end up with alot you don't.

Knowledge is Power, or so they say. And I suppose in this world, it's true. I have an Associates Degree In English and it's basically crap. I can't do anything with it, there's no job that I can get because of it. Which sucks. I know I'm going back to school, but I have never been completely sure for what. I can be indecisive at times, which causes problems when trying to plan for the future. But now I've made a decision. I'm looking into online colleges for Visual Game Art and Video Game Design. It's kinda like an extension of Graphic Design. Except with Games. It's a growing field, with more and more of the gamers out there being in the age range of 20's-30's, it's not just for kids anymore.

The school that I am most interested in is Westwood College. It's roughly 4300 a term, which is two months. There are 15 terms total before you get your degree. Plus supplies and lab fees. Which would probably sit you somewhere around the 66,000 dollar mark. So, now to the process of getting to the point where I could be a student there. I have to sit down and figure out the grants, scholarships, and loans I would have to use to pay for it. The time that would need to be put into it. The admission requirements. I think it'll help with the basic classes that I already have one degree. Maybe it won't take the total 15 terms and will cost a little bit less. I'm hoping I get the job working at Oconee Nuclear Station in South Carolina. That would help alot. I don't really want to move down to SC, but I can't really say no to this job. It's to much money to refuse. And it's steady work. Which is apparently unheard of in the Nuclear business.

Plus, I think a change of scenery would be nice. I'm fairly tired of Lenoir and Denver. It's a bit dull and everyone's just...not there. I would be able to do online school where ever I went. Which is a plus. If I don't get the job at Oconee, I'll believe I shall call it quits on my Nuclear Career. The money's good. But I'm really starting to hate the job. It's ridiculous. All the drama and bullshit. All the crap. It's really just gets old. It's not a job I would want to do forever anyways. It's fine for some people, but not for me. I've been doing it for a year now. And like it was with the paper route, I'm tired of it. Do you ever get that panic feeling when you think about something? Like maybe how some people feel before they fly? Not really fear, just panic. That's the closet description I can give to how I feel about having to go back to work at another Nuclear Station. I really don't want to do it, but alas the money is a key factor. Damn the dollar bill.

I figure, once I finish school, I can get to paying off whatever loans I have accumulated by then as quickly as possible. The only thing I'm worried about is the fear that I won't be able to find a job when I graduate. Everyone is pretty confident that I wouldn't have that problem, considering the field is an ever-growing one, and it's not slowing down. More and more people plug into virtual worlds to escape reality. 65% of American households play video games. The average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for 13 years. By 2009, it is projected that the industry will support over a quarter of a million American jobs. The average salary for direct employees is $92,300, resulting in total national compensation of $2.2 billion. It's no doubt, an industry on the rise. Still, I worry, because you have to think every situation through before making a choice as big as this. $66,000 is a large chunk of pocket change. And a figure that large should be spent wisely. I'm thinking about buying a lottery ticket every week as well. Just in case. That's a terrible fall back plan. I've heard worse though.

Anyways, I'm going to start checking out all the options I have within my reach and figuring out the best one. I don't want to work for Duke Energy forever. And I'm almost 24. I think I've waited long enough to decide. Time to quit fooling around and get down to business. Eventually we all have to grow up, right? I suppose Peter Pan didn't, but I can't fly either.

And with that, I've seen another movie, The Goods. This weekend, hopefully, I'll get to see Inglorious Basterds. Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt. What a combination. One that will hopefully make for an awesome movie.

The Goods. Live Hard. Sell Hard. A pretty decent movie. As compared to The Hangover, it's not quite as funny, but still has some good laughs in it. There's not much plot to it: A car lot in danger of being closed down gets help from out of town sellers. Will Ferrel appears....with angels. Jeremey Pivens puts on a good show. There's a boy band involved. And the Trans-Am from Smokey and the Bandits. Although it's not on my 'to buy' list, it's a see it at least once movie, theater or DVD.

For those of your who don't know, Northlake Mall has $5 movies Mon-Thurs all day. The theater was practically empty when we went to the 2:00 showing of The Goods. Concord Mills also has this deal. And there's always the $2 theater in downtown Hickory.

Superpowers. Action Figures. Aliens.

Ah, to be young again. As we get older all we have are our memories....

I remember, back in my day, when I watched PUSH a few weeks ago and the walk to my car was uphill BOTH WAYS. PUSH was a decent enough movie. Nothing stands out to seperate the movie from all the other superhero movies that are on the market today. It's got the standard abilities that superheros have. The organization trying to control them, and the motive: Weaponry. Because that's where the moneys at these days. Right? It's a good movie though. Worth watching at least once. I'm not buying it. I usually only buy movies that have struck me as "Holy crap! That was awesome" or " I can't believe that happened!". You know the sort. Jaws or The Dark Knight. Something you could watch over and over again. Still, PUSH is pretty good, and I like the fact that you're almost doubting what's going on. It's set up for a sequel, so maybe the next one will knock our socks off.

G.I. Joe. I've no knowledge of the characters or the history of GI Joe. The only thing I ever knew about them, was when we were little and me and my cousin used to play, his GI Joes and Transformers were not nice to my Barbies and Polly Pockets. That being the case, I thought it was a good movie. Plenty of action. One lady at the theater called it "a steady stream of chaos". Which is exactly the case. The almost two hour movie had enough plot for two movies. There was the present storyline in which the characters are trying to save the world from evil and then there were the flashbacks. The long flashbacks. They gave you the "this is what happened to make the characters who they are in the present" side of things. I felt that they gave to much into the back story and made everything connected to a point where it was almost too much. They could have made more money if they made a GI Joe Orgins movie as well as this movie. The action sequences were awesome. I loved the accelerator suits. I thought they were pretty cool. However, there were some shotty graphics involved. More than once, the crafts they are flying look fake and computerized, and the metal mask that Destro wears at the end of the movie looks awful. It's almost as if they killed the budget with the action sequences and said screw it on a few minor details here and there. I've heard fans say that they varied from the original GI Joe storyline of the cartoons. And that the movie was awful. I don't plan on catching up on all those years of GI Joe cartoons so I'll never know. Overall, I thought the movie was good. Not the best of the summer by far but still worth a view.

Now to the real gem. District 9. I loved it. It was an excellent movie. Beware though, the first half can be boring if all you went for was mindless alien-human violence. It's shot as a documentry would be to begin with. And then it switches to the standard movie style. I like the handheld look (think Cloverfield or BlairWitch). It adds to the story. The commentary from random people is also a plus. The aliens are different from other aliens. They are have a strange obsession with cat food and want nothing more than to go home. But of course the humans in control have a different plan in mind. And once again its all about the weapons. I think this movie is a closer look at ourselves. It resembles the events from the 1970's of District Six. The experiments on the aliens, called 'prawns', resembles those of the Holocaust. The actions taken towards the aliens are nothing that humans haven't already done to one another. I might be over thinking it a bit, but some of the greatest movies of all times have underlying tones that most people never pick up on. Some people are there for the fact that a movie is two hours you don't have to think, just watch. I'm one of these people sometimes, and other times I like my movies with a little more intellect. Either way, District 9 is a enjoyable movie. There are plenty of explosions (mainly of people) and the gore is on a higher level than most movies, even splattering the camera lens at times. There's much more to be said about the movie. The line between duty and survival, the extent to which people will go to gain knowledge, power, wealth. The boundaries that are pushed when backed into a corner and the understanding of both sides of the conflict. The movie, like so many today, sets the end up perfectly for a sequel. Will they come back? What happens to the other millions of aliens left? What about Wickus? It's left off with a ton of questions and only one way for them to be answered: to watch the sequel when it's released. Darn you Hollywood, you sure know how to make those dollars!

Of course, there is always the possiblity of a MIB/District 9 crossover. Or maybe a Alien/Distict 9 Fight Club (Aliens win, no doubt.) Or District Wars: Episode II. Starship Troopers 4: District of Prawns. War of the Districts. Indiana Jones and the Golden Catfood Can. It could go on forever....

Four Movies and a Link

Let's start at the beginning. I wasn't loved enough as a child, which led to my love of movies. Plus it's genetic. But enough about me.

The Ugly Truth was pretty good. As one friend described it, it's "a guy's chick flick." Sexual Humor. Yes. Cat Lady. Yes. Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. Yes. A girlie ending. Of course. But if you're a guy the humor makes up for the mushy love story ending. You knew it was going to end that way anyways. It is still classified as a Romantic Comedy.

Harry Potter and the long ass movie wasn't that bad. I didnt claw my eyes out. But my sister had to pay for my ticket. I would have eventually seen it when it went to DVD. I don't like Harry Potter, but i hate losing, especially if it's Scene It, and we have the DeLuxe Version (very nice) and the Harry Potter Version. I refuse to lose ( although i did lose the last time we played, but just barely).

Knowing could have been an excellent movie. I loved it, up till the last 15 mins, give or take a few mins. It was creepy, it was mystery filled, it had shiny black rocks, and creepy guys driving by and standing in the woods. Plus the music was freaky. I was happy with the way it turned out until the reason for all the hub bub emerged, i was sorely disappointed. It was no longer creepy, it was stupid. I would rather watch Harry Potter again. On the plus side, the movie did promise the end of the world, and it delievered that much at least.

Funny People was funny, and serious. Seth Rogen has been forgiven for Pineapple Express, and Adam Sandler shows that he can still make a decent movie. Lots of actors in the movie, including Eminem, Paul Reiser(Carter from Aliens, give me a break, it was a great movie),Sarah Silverman, Norm MacDonald, Ray Ramono, and of course Torsten Voges (ahem..."Are you mad you died at the end of Die Hard?"). Apatow's daughters are also in the movie, the same girls from Knocked up. It had some pretty good moments. I thought the Tom Cruise/David Beckham/Will Smith joke was hilarious. Go see it, actors need money too.

If you haven't seen Judd Apatow's other movies, I guess you've been living under a rock, but they are all pretty awesome movies. I suggest watching them at least once. Knocked Up, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Talledega Nights, Anchorman, and The Forty Year Old Virgin (he was also the writer for Don't mess with the Zohan, Walk Hard, and Pineapple Express, but everyone messes up once in a while). Here's some of his movies, I believe there is a tralier or a clip with each summary.

And if you haven't seen The Hangover, put your big boy pants on and step into the world. There are tigers a plenty (just one) waiting for your viewing pleasure.